FILE PHOTO - Salmon Arm courthouse.

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

Last September, Ryan Adam Charron spent hours holed up in a Salmon Arm house while armed police surrounded him.

After three hours he eventually surrendered.

Yesterday, June 20, at the Salmon Arm courthouse, the 32-year-old learned he'll spend another nine-and-a-half months behind bars for his part in an armed robbery of a suspected drug dealer.

Following the lengthy police standoff Charron was charged with robbery with a firearm and assault with a weapon, however, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of break and enter and got a significantly shorter sentence than his companion who fired the gun.

The court heard how in April 2022, Charron along with Riley Daniel Crossley, Alec Theodore Steven Christian and Dustin Daniel Schmitt had gone to the trailer of suspected drug dealer Richard Desjardins in Salmon Arm.

The trailer windows were smashed and a shotgun was fired. Desjardins wasn't seriously hurt and fired back with a BB gun. Roughly $3,400 in cash was stolen from the trailer along with a vehicle scanner and a baton.

"(Desjardins) was less than fully cooperative with police over his incident," BC Provincial Court Judge George Leven said.

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Last September, Crossley pleaded guilty to pulling the trigger and armed robbery. He was sentenced to four years in jail. The files of Christian and Schmitt are still ticking through the court system with their next appearance scheduled for October.

Along with his part in the robbery, Charron also pleaded guilty to breaking and entering, fleeing the police and possession of stolen goods.

The court heard how in January 2022, he'd been found in a stolen truck in a fenced-off construction site in Salmon Arm. The engine was running but there was no key in the ignition.

He told police he'd crashed but was trying to keep warm.

He made bail and eight days later was back at another construction site stealing tools, this time in Enderby.

He fled when police arrived, drove at high speed through someone's yard and successfully maneuvered past two police spike belts. He fled north on the highway and was finally stopped by police in Salmon Arm.

He was arrested but failed to show up in court and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

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Two months later he was smashing windows at the Salmon Arm trailer with the others. It took police a further five months before he was finally arrested following the armed standoff.

The court heard how Charron had grown up in Enderby surrounded by alcohol and violence.

He had 18 prior convictions, one for assault causing bodily harm, another for possessing a firearm, two for dangerous driving and multiple property offences and breaches.

Defence lawyer Joe Killoran said Charron was addicted to fentanyl and he was "doing what he had to do to feed his addiction."

The court heard how he'd previously owned a flooring company for five years, but had to sell his share following an accident. He'd lost three centimetres off his arm caused by the infection that followed.

He'd developed an addiction after the injury.

Killoran said at one point he was living with his six-year-old son, "but the fentanyl got the better of him."

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In a joint submission to the court, Judge Leven agreed on a sentence of two years less one day.

With time already spent behind bars, Charron will spend nine-and-a-half months in jail, followed by two years probation.

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